Trump Says US Will Strike Irans Pickaxe Mountain Nuclear Site Very Heavily

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the United States will launch strikes against Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site and similar sites.“We‘ll be hitting that area very probably pretty soon. There’s not a thing they can do about it. You know, normally I wouldn’t say that. If I thought they could do something about it, I would never say that. But we’ll be hitting that area pretty soon, and very heavily,” Trump said in response to a question about whether Iran moved nuclear centrifuges to Pickaxe Mountain.U.S. officials have said Iran may have stored nuclear centrifuges at the heavily fortified site, which is beneath a mountain. Trump said that “it doesn’t mean anything” unless Iran has nuclear material.The president did not provide any other details about the strikes against Pickaxe Mountain, including when it might happen. Trump made a similar comment earlier in July when he told radio host Hugh Hewitt that the U.S. military would “give Pickaxe a shot relatively soon.”Last summer, the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iranian nuclear sites in Operation Midnight Hammer. The current conflict with Iran, according to Trump, was initiated to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and degrade the country’s nuclear program.Over the weekend, the United Nations’ atomic agency said it’s investigating reports of a strike against an under-construction Iranian nuclear site in Darkhovin.Trump’s remarks, which he gave during an Oval Office meeting between him and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, came as the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) on Monday said that another round of strikes against Iran were carried out.“U.S. forces struck Iranian military command centers, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and air defense systems to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking commercial vessels flowing through the Strait of Hormuz,” the command said in a post on X.Iranian state media reported that explosions were heard in Fars, Hormozgan, Ilam, Kerman, and Sistan and Baluchistan provinces.The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said a tanker came under attack on Monday in the Strait of Hormuz, forcing the crew to abandon the ship.Tehran also hit U.S.-allied countries throughout the Middle East. Jordan’s military said Tuesday that Iran targeted it with five drones and three missiles, all of which were shot down. Bahrain sounded its missile alert sirens on Tuesday afternoon as another Iranian barrage targeted the island kingdom, which is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.Iran confirmed that it launched strikes on Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan, according to the semi-official IRNA agency.Tehran also claimed it “destroyed the central data infrastructure” of an Amazon data center in Bahrain, according to IRNA, although The Epoch Times was unable to independently verify those claims. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The U.S. military also announced that a soldier killed in Iraq during a controlled detonation of an Iranian drone was a 30-year-old father from North Carolina who had served for nearly a decade.Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton will receive a Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and Combat Action Badge, and will be promoted to staff sergeant. The Army said it was investigating the circumstances of his death Sunday at an air base in Irbil.The Defense Department earlier this week identified soldiers who were recently killed in Jordan as 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas.The Associated Press contributed to this report.